In recent years, many efforts have been made to change passive textiles into intelligent and interactive systems by the integration of electronics. For example, efforts have been made to provide textiles with light emitting element, such as light emitting diodes in order to turn such textiles into textile integrated display devices.
There are many possible applications for textile integrated display devices. One example of such a textile integrated display device is described in the Japanese patent publication 2004-308050, describing a garment with light emitting diodes attached to it in a predetermined pattern.
However, light emitting diodes are point source emitters, so a textile with light emitting diodes attached to it at certain spacing has no appealing look. Further, for many applications, such as wearable textile products for light-therapy uses, it may be important that the light emitted is more or less homogenously distributed over the textile area.
Hence, there is a need in the art for a textile based light emitting device from which light may be emitted from a larger area portion, without affecting the textile feel and flexibility of the device.